SUMMARY:

Public school Speech-Language Pathologist are communication specialists who work with both the general education and special education population with language handicaps, articulation deficits, dysfluencies and voice disorders.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Other duties may be assigned.

• Serves as a resource to school staff members in the development of a balanced program for oral communication and speech improvement.
• Assists and guides teachers in observing, describing, and referring suspected and identified speech and language impairments.
• Provides a thorough assessment and diagnosis of speech, voice, and language impairments.
• Provides screening to identify speech handicapped children at regular intervals and at specified levels.
• Assists in proper referrals of individuals to agencies and specialists in the community.
• Provides appropriate individualized programs of therapy to meet individual students' needs and correct existing speech or language handicaps.
• Collaborates with classroom teachers and other school staff members to implement therapy by suggestions for the student's daily activities.
• Provides information, support, and counseling to parents and families when appropriate.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Supervises students.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:

• Master's degree in speech and language pathology.      
• A minimum of 60 semester hours of academic credit in normal aspects of human communication, development thereof, and clinical techniques for evaluation and management of speech and language disorders.
• A minimum of 300-clock hours of supervised practicum experience with persons who present a variety of communication disorders, to be acquired in conjunction with academic training, 150 hours of which shall be obtained on the graduate level.
• School Speech Language Pathologist License from the New Mexico Public Education Department.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations. Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry. Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.

REASONING ABILITY:

Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

OTHER SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Ability to apply knowledge of current research and theory to instructional program; ability to plan and implement lessons based on division and school objectives and the needs and abilities of students to whom assigned. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with students, peers, parents and community; ability to speak clear and concisely in written or oral communication.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is will regularly sit, and occasionally walk and stand. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision. While performing the duties of this job the employee will continuously hear conversation in a quiet and/or noisy environment. The employee will continuously need the ability to tell where a sound is coming from and tell the difference among bells, buzzers, beeps, horns etc.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate. The employee is directly responsible for the safety, well-being and work out- put of students.

The information contained in this description is for compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) and is not an exhaustive list of the duties performed for this position. Additional duties are performed by the individuals currently holding this position and additional duties may be assigned.